Part of Your World
by MyAnnabelLee
Summary: Way down under the sea lives a girl who wants nothing more than to be on the shore and experience Assiah in a new and brighter light. And when Rin Okumura, along with fellow classmates Izumo Kamiki and Renzo Shima, visit the beach on a mission fate has it that their paths cross and this under-the-sea girl is given the chance to see life from an entirely different perspective.
1. Chance Encounter

"What she really craved was a connection. That feeling you got when you knew you were supposed to be with someone."

- J. Sterling, _In Dreams_

The ocean was calm the day I first saw him.

Calm, with the exception of an overflow of black ink that polluted the water so horribly it drove out all the beach-goers. It all began when I decided to have a bit of fun with a girl who was lounging carelessly inside a pink floatie. I hovered beneath her for a moment, circling a few times and contemplating all the different ways I could make myself laugh. If there hadn't been so many people in the water, I might've flipped her entirely over – inner tube and all – but the attention that would've drawn would've taken away from my personal entertainment. So I decided on simply pulling her toes, which were dangling precariously in the cool waves.

My fingers darted up above the waterline just quickly enough to yank on her three middle toes and come back under before she could react. Her body lurched forward, reaching for her foot as she groaned, "Oh no! Leg cramp!" I sank into the waters with a wide grin plastered across my face, my fingers twitching with an excitement for my own deviousness. I knew the girl would be fine – a few pulled toes never killed anybody – so I saw no harm in having a bit of fun with her. Even if that fun was one-sided.

The joyful plan I'd laid out began to quickly deteriorate though as a boy swimming several yards away reacted to her cry of pain. He swam the awkward way humans do along the surface of the water and over towards her. I couldn't make out what was being said, but I watched on regardless with wide and curious eyes as the two interacted with one another. The girl was obviously older than the he was, him looking to be no more than a child, but still for some reason she blushed, as if flustered by what was happening between them. _How odd…_ I thought to myself.

After another moment of their bickering, the two knocked heads and she tipped back, apparently that having been enough to leave her unconscious. My mouth fell open into a small 'o' of interest, my body repositioning vertically as if I intended to go check on her. And perhaps I might have, if the little boy hadn't been so capable. He paddled them both back to shore as I slowly followed just out of the way of his kicking feet. I poked my head up above the waters when I could go any further and continued to watch as he dragged her to shore – albeit awkwardly, but how smoothly could a person his size really go about carrying a girl so much bigger?

Admittedly I was beginning to feel guilty, knowing that I had been the catalyst that caused all these problems. How was I supposed to know that a toe-pull would end with an unconscious girl though? If anything that seemed like the most outrageous possible outcome for my short second of shenanigans, and yet there I was, watching on from the shallow part of the sea as a pre-pubescent boy leaned in to give a teenage girl CPR.

I felt relieved when the girl came to quickly enough to stop the impending lip lock. Seeing something like that would've made me flat out uncomfortable. The pair began yelling at one another again, and I strained to make out the actual words.

"… you grab my boobs, you beat me, now you wanna kiss me?!"

"What are you talkin' about?! I just saved your life! Quit bein' a hardheaded jerk."

"_I'm_ hardheaded? How'd I get this lump?" A new smile split into my cheeks as I listened to them amusedly. This was far more entertaining that I could've ever hoped for! The entire conversation was absolutely ridiculous to me, and I wondered if all humans talked to each other like this. The thought nearly brought me to laughter.

Soon enough another pair of walkers had appeared on the scene, and by the way they interacted with the girl I could only guess that they were companions. I hardly had the mind to take notice of that though, or anything that they were even saying, as suddenly I only had eyes for this ebony headed boy. My lids peeled back wide as I leaned forward towards him, holding myself up on my hands which slowly sank into the soft sand below me. I couldn't explain or even understand why I felt this way, but there was something that drew me to him as if he were the most important person in all of Assiah. I wanted to get closer to him. To unravel him and figure out his most well-kept secrets and darkest memories.

_Who __are__ you?_ I thought incredulously to myself. My heart jumped inside my chest as suddenly he looked my way, confusion pinching his face as his eyes roved over the waves. Having panicked, I ducked into the water and flattened myself to the sand just before having been caught. He'd turned in my direction so abruptly and on cue it was as if he'd heard me. Had I said that out loud?

I didn't have the time to think on it too hard, however, as my train of thought was shifted when I smelt something putrid and only a moment after saw a trickle of black muck float in front of my face. I blinked for a moment, then rolled my eyes as it dawned on me what it was. _Kraken,_ I groaned inside my head as I discordantly waddled myself backwards with my hands until I was back deep enough at sea to swim more freely.

It'd been some six months since the Kraken had last decided to pay this village a visit, and while I may not have had much experience in the ideals of humans, I felt safe in guessing that they liked their lives better when he was away. The Kraken had a knack of ruining everything it touched, not to mention scaring grown men so horrifically they defecated right into the ocean (which, consequently, always ruined _my_ day). I personally knew the demon to be nothing more than a blundering idiot with a poor sense of direction and absolutely zero concept of the word 'gentle'. Put both of those things together though and you were left with bad news for human settlements. Particularly ones so close to the ocean.

I crested through the turf as schools of fish darted in the opposite direction of myself, shouting words of warning inside my mind. "_Don't go that way!"_ _"The Kraken's back!" _I would argue that their distaste for the oversized demon was equaled to that of the walkers, but not at all for the same reason. No, their only complaint about the giant squid was that it stunk up the water for miles around wherever it went. In that sense I always felt sort of bad for him. It wasn't as if he could _help_ it.

But still, the ink was a pain in the ass. I squinted my eyes and scrunched my nose as I got closer to the black cloud. When I came so close I couldn't stomach it anymore, I breached the surface and took a deep breath of air, reaching my hands up to wipe away any of the goo from my face. When I opened my eyes, I turned my attention towards the red and white stripped lighthouse. Just as I suspected, a small crowd of people had gathered around to peer out on the polluted waters with plainly frightened expressions. And right there, front and center of all those faces, was boy that I swore had read my mind.

My hands dropped back into the waters as I stared up at him, not even realizing as I subconsciously began to drift closer to the high wall he stood on. The gap between us was too much to hear anything that was being said outside of a general murmur of distraught chatter. He, along with the other boy from earlier and the poor victim of my toe-pulling prank, were talking with what looked like an old monk. Most likely he was catching them up on the story of the Kraken.

Soon enough the man's story had reached a conclusion that must've lead into something else, as they were all turning to walk away. Perking up with a sudden need to get his attention, I darted beneath the water and to the ocean floor. Picking up a hand full of pebbles I swam as quickly as I could back up to the surface to see that, luckily, the boy had lingered behind to take one more look at the foreboding blackness. Only taking a second to measure my aim, I cocked my arm back and flung one of the small stones directly at him. I swelled with pride when I realized that I'd actually hit him, seeing as he winced and instantly became angry and confused. I threw another pebble his way to get his attention, and went it knocked him on the forehead he immediately turned in my direction.

I smiled up at him, and his expression dropped to one of awe. "H-Hey!" he stammered, sounding a little uncertain still. My lips curled up into a brighter smile as I let the rest of the stones go and waved at him. He placed his hands on the railing and leaned over slightly. I couldn't help but to think how exciting it'd be if he fell over and I could heroically save him, dragging him ashore and letting my face be the first thing he saw when he came to.

But of course that didn't happen, rather all he said was, "What are you doing in the water?! Don't you see that giant cloud of ink behind you?!"

"Yes!" I answered shortly, pleasantly. This for some reason threw him completely off as he looked around himself, as if suddenly needing reassurance from someone that this was actually happening. Nobody was paying him any mind though as his friends had already left, and so he turned his attention back on to me.

"Do you need help?" he called down, and I thought it kind that he was so concerned for me.

"No! I'm alright!" I responded. "Thank you though!" Again, he seemed completely dumbfounded, and I couldn't help but to wonder what about this was so unbelievable to him. He opened his mouth as if meaning to say more, but something behind him had caught his attention. He turned slightly to be looking over his shoulder as he said something, then peered down at me one last time.

"Look, I really don't think you should be in the water right now! If you want I can ask someone to send a boat out to come and get you!" He glanced behind himself once more, and I could tell his attention was needed elsewhere.

"I'll be okay, don't worry!" I assured one last time before giving him a wave. "I'll see you around, okay?" He looked like he was caught on what to say, so I simply waved goodbye and ducked below the water, swimming deep enough that I knew my outline wouldn't be seeable from above.

I found myself smiling once again, in spite of myself, as I casually coasted towards the sea bottom. It felt almost instinctual to me that I find a way to get closer to him, and on one hand I was fearful that this was some dark order sent out by Satan. But the feeling I got from this boy was so bright and lovely, I couldn't possibly see how there could be any correlation between him and the King of Ghenna.

Turning over onto my back, I let myself drift completely down onto the soft sandy floor. Lifting my hands up behind my head I closed my eyes, my lips still curved contently upward. Yes, I felt nothing but good intent radiating from him, and perhaps it was just in my fate to know him. I thought of all the fairy tales my mother had told me as a child, and couldn't help but to feel hopeful that perhaps this was the start of my own merry story.


	2. Demon King Egny

"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be."

– _Clementine Paddleford_

I realized, some hours later, that this boy I felt destined to meet would most likely be leaving soon.

He dressed like the humans who only stayed for a while, blissful and happy in the beaches sunshine before going back to wherever it was they came from. Unbuttoned shirts with tees underneath. Shorts, sandals. Give or take a few inches of exposed skin. The human's I saw here every day wore things with a bit more variety. Shorts and jeans, long sleeves and short sleeves and tank tops. Closed-toe shoes and opened. I assumed they liked to have a bit of spice in their life in the form of the fabrics they used to cover their bodies.

I had always wanted to know where it was they went when they stopped coming to the sea. What was there in this world _besides _the sea? There was a reason I spent so much time close to shore, swimming between the legs of those who were brave enough to come into the deep waters. Their lives seemed so full of splendor and magic, despite the fact that humans by nature had no real magic at all. They could lay up on the sand while the sun burned their faces red, stand when they'd had enough and simply walk away. There was certainly something magical about that.

Some nights, when it stormed and no humans were around to see, I would drag myself out of the waters and lay out on my back, just out of reach of the lapsing tide. My body felt heavier up there, and all of my senses seemed so much more electrified and alive. I'd close my eyes and imagine what it would be like to have two separate limbs below my waist, movable and capable of so many things. I'd play out scenes within my mind of what my life out of the ocean would be like, and on occasion it would end with my eyes stinging and my vision blurred. I never knew what that meant, but didn't like the feeling it left me with. It kept me from daydreaming as often as I would've liked.

But seeing this boy reminded me of how badly I wanted to know that life, even if it were only just for a day. It felt unfair to me that I was born in the material world of Assiah but knew none of its real perks. The sea was so limited in possessions compared to all the things I saw on land. I wanted to wear shoes on my feet and fit my two legs into jeans. I wanted a reason to wear dresses and carry a bag on my arm to hold all my belongings – my _materials._

I felt a resolve building in my gut as I pushed off from the sandy ocean floor and began to head into deeper water. Today would be the day I finally did something about my dreams. _Stop being a baby,_ I scolded myself as I furrowed my eyebrows. _Just talk to Father and tell him that you want to walk. _It sounded so easy inside my mind, and for a moment I even began to convince myself that it would be no matter at all to get it done.

When I reached the trench that dropped off into the Kingdom, I paused only for a second to stare on at it. It never failed to be beautiful to me. Guilt scratched at the inside of my chest, knowing that I wanted to leave it behind and that it wasn't enough for me anymore. All the bioluminescent lights that dotted the tall buildings that jutted up from the floor, people like me darting amongst each other.

I moved forward, angled down towards the King's Palace. _"Oh, hey Nixie!" "Where have you been?" "Do you want to go crab hunting with me later?"_ Most of the people I passed seemed to have something to say, but I didn't have any interest in conversation with them at the moment, so I answered them in the shortest ways possible. _"Hello." "Out." "I'm busy." _They generally seemed to catch the hint that I wasn't in the mood to talk and left me alone. It wasn't anything personal, of course, it was just that they had nothing to say that would really hold my attention. No, only King Egny had those words.

When I passed through the palaces door I knew that that would be my last chance to turn back. From that point on, there'd be guards and nosey spies weaseling their way in to my every movement. It'd look suspicious to them if I came only to so abruptly leave, and oh how they loved suspiciousness. I figured they had nothing better to do with their lives than screw around with everyone else's.

I came to the stony archway of the Main Hall and paused, placing my hand on its frame and inhaling a mouth full of water. When it was all paced through my gills and I could feel the oxygen in my longs, I entered the room. King Egny was laid across a stone with servants fanned around him. "Nixie," he spoke, his voice casual – if not playful. "What brings you to my humble abode?" I drifted closer to him so I wouldn't have to speak to loudly.

"I wanted to ask you something, Father," I said, stopping a few feet away. His steely eyes glanced my way as he stared at me evenly, as if measuring the seriousness of my attitude. He must've seen something heavy as with the wave of his arm, everyone in the room had left. He sat up on the stone.

"Speak then, child," he said. I purse my lids, closing my eyes and giving a slight head nod. After I said asked this question, nothing in my life would be the same. No matter what his answer might be. With my fists clenched tightly I reopened my eyes and spoke,

"Please, Father, I want to go to the surface. I want you to give me legs."

A silence filled the room so thick, it felt as though I was jammed between two walls. _He's going to kill me,_ I thought surely to myself. _These are my last moments of my life in Assiah. _For a moment I felt panicked by that thought. _Oh no, oh please no. I don't want to go to Gehenna. Anything but Gehenna! _

Egny's sudden fit of hard laughter booming throughout the room scared me, making me jump slightly. I watched him with wide eyes as he double over in a fit of chortling. I didn't understand what was happening, so I waited rigidly for it to end. Had my question been so absurd to him that the only thing he could think to do was _laugh_? I could kill myself out of embarrassment.

"Oh, my daughter," he bellowed at long last, his cackling having quieted down a bit. He rose up from his seat and before I could react was at me, his heavy arm draped around my shoulders as he leaned in towards my face. "I've been waiting for over a hundred years for this day to come!" My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "I knew the minute you came to me in that you would be the one to go farther, pursue bigger things than just… _this_." He gestured around himself to the finely decorated palace, and I still felt utterly confused.

"I-I don't think I'm following what you're saying, Father…"

"Ah, but of course you do," he contradicted surely. "Being one of the Demon Kings, I have abilities that most normal demons simply do not possess – yourself included. This however doesn't mean that our minds are all that different. You have desires, don't you Nixie?" I hesitantly nod my head yes. "And you have dreams and ambitions and things that you want to do with your life. The only thing that separates us, by that standard, is our ability to do what we'd like. You have so many limitations holding you back, while I… do not." I fought the scowl that was straining beneath my features. _Is he just trying to show off?_

He pulled away from me and circled around my body before coming to stop in front of me. "But I want more for you. I want you to push yourself harder than you ever have. I want you to push this entire _world_ – and when it pushes back, I want you to smile and know that you are doing more than most demon could ever dream to." I stared at him in awe, disbelieving as to what he was saying. He had thought all these things of _me_?

"So my answer, dear child, to your question is yes." He rested his hands on my shoulders as he squarely stared down at me. The weight of his gaze could crush me. "I want you to go to the surface too. I want you to do what your mind is telling you to do. You may lead this kingdom into a new age." His large hands slip down my arms and stop at my elbows. His cold steel eyes suddenly grew red and hot, which nearly distracted me from the sharp pricking of his nails piercing into my skin. "Rückkehr in die heimat an den körper, den sie einst kannte."

I had no idea what in the hell he was saying, but was smart enough to realize that he was casting some sort of demonic spell over me. His eyes returned to cold steel and he smiled warmly. His nails retracted from my skin and I knew that blood would be trickling into the water from the wounds he left. "Go to the surface, if you wish, Nixie," he tells me in a voice that's too sweet for his burly body. "I will always support you." I offer him a half-hearted smile in return, but could feel the guilt again when I stare at his kind face.

**»»**

I must've come up with a thousand and one translations for what Egny had said to me, but I was never much good at deducing things so I trashed all the ideas. It would've been wonderful if he would've just _told_ me what it meant, but instead when I asked he'd only laughed and pushed me towards the door, shouting _"LIVE!_" repeatedly.

I was heading towards the surface to see if I could get away with a late night lay on the beach when I realized that the Kraken had returned. Havoc was sure to be happening on shore, and the first thing that came to mind was the boy I'd seen earlier. _What if he gets hurt?!_ I got nauseous just at the idea. Swimming as fast as my tail would allow, I reached broke the waterline and looked through the darkness towards the mainland. And as certainly as it was night, there was the giant sea demon, attacking what looked like a demonic cat.

I quickly got closer, moving around the harbor to where the giant squid was lurking. "Kraken!" I shouted angrily at it. "What do you think you're doing?! I thought we were _past_ this! I thought we were _better_ than this." If he'd heard me, he didn't give any sign as he continued to thwart off his attacker. I watched as the feline back flipped away from his dorsal fins and then noticed the people standing on the land. My eyes went wide and for a moment I felt panicked. Of course this boy was caught in the crossfires; why on Earth would he not be? It was only my rotten luck.

Rolling my eyes bitterly, I darted forward to my sea brother and slapped him on the tentacle. "Hey! Are you listening to me you big brute?! _Leave these people alone! _They haven't done any—" Suddenly I felt something get knocked into my side and all the oxygen inside of me was pushed out in a sudden gasp of air. My vision doubled and spun as I flipped through the air, and it felt as though I was falling forever. It was just before I'd hit the ground and had fallen unconscious that I realized Kraken had swatted me with his tendril, sending me flying from the waters and up onto the sandy shore.


	3. Names and Nice Smiles

"_And then my soul saw you and it kind of went, 'oh, there you are. I've been looking for you.'"_

- Iain Thomas, _I Wrote This for You_

"… Hey… Hey are you okay? Wake up…!" The distant and foggy sound of a girl's voice was ringing in my ears like a persistent sea horse, and I wanted nothing more than to smack her in the face and tell her to go away. But she seemed so urgent and scared, and it made me feel nervous. My eyebrows pinched together as my lips wrinkled into a hard line.

"Oh man, is she really not getting up?!" I could hear someone else – a male, this time – calling from a little further away.

"This is bad. This is so bad. This is the exact _opposite_ of good," another masculine voice groaned.

"Guys, would you just shut up?! You're really not helping the situation," the female voice snapped, and finally I'd had enough. I opened my mouth to say something but was struck by how incredibly dry my throat was. Raising a hand to my spinning head, I slowly sat up.

"She's up! She's getting up!" one of the boys sang with clear relief. I opened my eyes slowly, and at first everything was a swirling blur. My lids narrowed as I tried to focus on the figure in front of me, my fingers trailing down the side of my face to rest over my aching throat. It took a moment for things to sift into a steadiness, but finally I realized who it was and it nearly made me panic.

I fell awkwardly back onto my forearms out of shock, my eyes now opened wide as I blinked up at her. "Hey it's okay! Don't be scared!" she tried to comfort, obviously under the impression that I was scared of her. Which I supposed in a sense was right. I'd just pranked the hell out of her earlier that day, and now here she was trying to – what? Help me? "Just take it easy, alright." She reached one of her hands out to take me by the arm and help me back into a sitting position. I was hesitant, but let her do so anyways.

"My throat…" I choked out so quietly and hoarsely, I was doubtful if she'd heard me. "I need… water…" A light went off behind her eyes as she whirled around and said,

"Can someone go grab her a water bottle?! Jeez, you're all so useless." I followed her stare past her shoulder and to the people she was talking to. But it was dark outside, and my vision hadn't come back to me well enough to really make anything out besides the general outline of two human bodies.

"Yeah, I got it!" one of them responded before they jogged away.

And then it dawned on me. My pulse sparked just beneath the skin of my wrists as I stared blankly out ahead of me, suddenly terrified to look anywhere else.

"So are you alright? What happened?" I could hear the girl asking, but her questions weren't making sense in my head. What she was interested in seemed so ridiculously irrelevant to the _real_ dilemma at hand.

"My legs," I hushed, my voice still sounding like sandpaper. "Do I have… legs?" There was a moment of silence after, and I was sure she was looking at me like I was insane. But she had no idea how radically important that question was for me – for all of my people. If I could be a mermaid who walked with the humans… I couldn't help the smile that beckoned at my lips.

"Your legs are there, yeah," she answered after what felt like too long of a time, and I immediately felt something both cold and hot rush over my body. My head dropped into my hands as I leaned over myself, scared to move my legs for reasons I couldn't readily explain. A familiar heat started to build behind my eyes, and at first I couldn't place where I recognized the feeling from. But then I remembered all those nights I'd spent laid up on the shore during thunderstorms, only dreaming of a life with feet, and having this blurred and burning feeling in my eyes.

A wetness started seeping onto my palms as my eyes began to itch just as a familiar voice approached the girl and I, saying, "Here you go." I lifted my head up to see the boy and was greeted with an immediate sense of safety. It was him. The boy I'd spoken to earlier. The one with the pretty hair and dark eyes. His stare flickered down to mine as his hand was extended out, offering me something I didn't recognize. When he met my gaze, however, his easy expression was replaced with one of panic. "H-Hey, why are you crying!?"

My lips turned down in confusion, reaching out to take from him what he offered. "What's… crying?" I wheezed out, turning the object over in my hands as droplets of water streaked down my cheeks. There was water inside of the little container he gave me, which seemed completely ridiculous to me. Why would you go out of your way to do this when there was an entire ocean just to our left?

"What do you mean 'what's crying'?" the girl asked incredulously. I looked over at her, feeling slightly embarrassed for my incompetence on the subject. I turned my gaze back down onto the container as I clenched onto it more tightly. I never envisioned the moment when I finally got legs to be so… awkward.

"Hey, Izumo, why don't you go back to the Inn with Shima? Tell teacher I'll be there in a little bit. I just…." the boy I recognized was speaking now, and I was scared to look up at him. "I know this girl." The one he called Izumo snorted disbelievingly through her nose as she retorted,

"Sure you can handle being alone with a girl wearing no bottoms?" she asked in a voice that made it seem like she was teasing him. I mustered up enough courage to glance his way, and was shocked by how red his face suddenly looked.

"Yes I'm sure! Just go, alright?!"

"Whatever," she breathed shortly before standing up and walking away. I quickly turned my head back down and focused heavily on the object in hand. This boy was making me uncharacteristically nervous. Why did he want to be alone with me? Would he try to attack me? I was in an entirely new element up here – not only did I feel ridiculously heavy, but I didn't even know how to _walk_ yet. A confrontation was certainly the last thing I wanted.

So when he abruptly lowered himself down to be kneeling in front of me, I couldn't help but to jump a little. I peeked at him through my lashes, feeling very squeamish under his scrutinizing stare. "Hey," he said boldly, and I thought that that must've been a favorite word for humans. "You're that girl that was in the water, aren't you." Though worded as a question, his tone made it seem like a statement. I didn't respond.

He sighed and readjusted himself so that he was sitting on his bottom instead of crouching on his feet. He was so close our knees could've been touching if he moved just an inch over. "Look, I need you to be upfront with me right now because if I'm right about this, and other people find out, you'll be in a lot of danger around here." I watched my fingers as they wrenched pointlessly around the container he'd given me. All I wanted to do was drink the water inside, why was it so god forsakenly hard to open?

Abruptly he'd taken the container away from me and before I could protest had twisted off the top and handed it right back. "You're a demon, aren't you." Any moisture I might've still had inside my mouth and throat immediately ran dry at his accusation. Bringing the opening of the object up to my lips I downed nearly half the water in a single swallow. When I pulled it away, I answered,

"Aren't we all a little demonic at times?" The boy breathed out heavily through his nose, as if disappointed with me, and for some reason it riddled me with guilt.

"Please, be serious here. I'm just trying to help you," he said slowly, as if trying to keep himself calm. I swirled the liquid around inside the clear plastic for a moment, contemplating on what I should do. Demons were, generally, not something that were looked kindly upon in Assiah – and not that I blamed them in the slightest either. Those who came from Gehenna had a tendency of being major assholes. And while, of course, _I_ knew that I wasn't one such creature, what was the chances of being believed? That was something I'd have to prove with time and kindness. Neither of which I'd had the chance to exhibit for this guy.

"Why would… why would me telling you that help me…" I murmured as the rim of the plastic opening brushed across my lips.

"Because if you _are_, then I can help protect you – or, whatever…" Now it was his turn to sound unsure, his sentence trailing off as his cheeks flushed a deep ruby color. Again, I had nothing to say to him, and so he began to shift himself around until he was positioned directly in front of me. "Hey! Do you hear me talking to you?! Stop with this shit, alright? I want to _help you._ You don't have to act like this."

"If you're so sure I'm a demon then why does it matter what I say?" I retorted, feeling like all of this was a bit ridiculous at this point. Surely if I _wasn't_ I would've retaliated the minute he accused me of being one.

"Because!" he snapped, startling me into looking at him. His stare was intense and transfixed directly onto me. It made me nervous. "I know how it feels to be accused of being something you're not…" He spoke the last sentence so softly, I could easily tell that it was a tender subject for him. After a moment of thought, I came to a conclusion inside my mind.

"I'll be honest if you tell me what your name is," I offered gently, and his face looked a little shocked for a moment. Then he smiled, and I could feel my insides tightening. _He has a really nice smile,_ I thought absentmindedly. Then his dark eyes sparked with excitement, as if right in that moment he realized or understood something. He extended his hand for me to shake and said,

"I'm Rin." My lips pulled upward into a smile of my own as I accepted the handshake.

"I'm Nixie."

"And for the record, you've got a nice smile too."


End file.
